When it comes to money and marriage, young women are more likely to know about and manage a couple’s finances.

According to a new national survey by FindLaw.com, the most popular legal information Web site, married women between the ages of 18 and 34 are the most likely among married people to play a significant role in managing the couple’s finances, and less likely to squabble with their spouses about money.

“We found that younger women, in many ways, are the most money-savvy among married couples,” said Stephanie Rahlfs, an attorney and editor with FindLaw.com. “We sought to understand how couples manage their money, how much they fight about money, and how much they know about their financial situation. Younger women are the most likely – among men or women of all ages – to take on responsibility for understanding and managing the household finances, and do it without fighting about money issues.”

• Younger women are more likely to manage the household finances by themselves, rather than letting their spouses handle it or managing the money together. Thirty-seven percent of young married women say they handle all the household finances, compared with only 30 percent of young married men.

• Younger women are less likely to fight about money with their spouses. The survey found that while “Money” is the No. 1 issue most married couples fight about, younger women are more likely to fight about their partner’s bad habits than money. In fact, money is tied for third with issues involving relatives and in-laws, after bad habits and having or raising children.

• Who knows the most about their spouse’s finances when they get married? Whether it’s income, debts, net worth, retirement savings or even credit score, most younger women knew the details about their spouse’s finances before they got married. By contrast, less than half of younger men say they knew their wife’s net worth, retirement savings or credit score before they got married.

“Money and marriage are inevitably intertwined,” said Rahlfs. “Property rights, joint responsibilities and obligations, and legal benefits are as much a part of marriage as vows and wedding rings. How much couples know about their finances and how they decide to manage their money are important issues as couples go through their married life together. Whether married or about to get married, couples should understand the legal and financial aspects of marriage.”

Free Internet resources, such as FindLaw.com (http://www.findlaw.com), can provide helpful information on topics such as marriage, adoption and divorce, including a fiancé(e) and newlywed financial checklist, guide to adopting a child, and factors to consider in dividing property in a divorce.

The FindLaw.com survey was conducted using a demographically balanced telephone survey of 1,000 American adults and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus three percent.

Pregnancy.org, a company dedicated to the lives of women trying to conceive, pregnant or whom have kids already, has released a study with alarming results. The survey, which interviewed over 400 pregnant women, revealed that 78% admit to a poor diet, inadequate exercise or not taking a prenatal vitamin daily. The survey also showed:

61% don’t take a pre-natal vitamin daily as they feel it makes them more nauseous

55% did not seek expert advice on which pre-natal vitamin was suitable for them

Over 25% of respondents admitted to consuming alcohol, cigarettes or caffeine

Folate and Iron are the most sought after vitamins/minerals in a pre-natal vitamin but over 50% respondents don’t know what foods naturally contain them

When asked what they look for in a pre-natal vitamin price was considered more important than absorption rates or ingredient quality

80% don’t change their pre-natal vitamin formula from pre-conception to breastfeeding Founder and General

Manager of Pregnancy.org, LLC, Mollee Bauer, said “Our community boards are always buzzing about how pregnant moms struggle with diet, exercise and taking their daily pregnancy or prenatal vitamin and much of it can be attributed to feeling nauseas. In response we have created the first ever prenatal vitamin with a 100% anti-nausea GUARANTEE and an online nutrition clinic.”

Many women don’t realize that their vitamins may be making them feel unwell, adding to typical morning sickness symptoms. Typically, prenatal vitamins include iron, an essential nutrient during pregnancy, but when taken with other vitamins and minerals it can be hard to absorb and cause an upset stomach. The new anti-nausea formula allows moms to take a separate, highly absorbent iron + Vitamin C capsule and a prenatal multivitamin with B12, which has been shown to reduce symptoms associated with morning sickness.

The company enlisted the help of Beverly Hills Registered Dietitian, Deborah Klein, to develop the new anti-nausea vitamin. “In the last fifteen years of practice I’ve worked with thousands of moms-to be and as a mom myself I know the importance of getting enough nutrients and choosing the right prenatal supplement. Our aim was to create a pre-natal vitamin with everything a mom and baby needs that could help alleviate nausea not create it. If mom’s try any of the products and it doesn’t help we offer a 100% anti-nausea money back guarantee!!”

The new range of prenatal and pregnancy vitamins are exclusively available through Pregnancy.org. The clinic also provides information on how to eat right during pregnancy and online consultations with Registered Dietitians.

A study by BRIDES Magazine reveals how and why couples are recasting the traditional wedding and what defines THE NEW AMERICAN WEDDING as we enter 2010.

The stuffy by-the-rule-book wedding of years past has completely vanished. There is a woman in white, music, food, cake and vows – but every other aspect of the American wedding has been reconsidered. The New American Wedding presents itself as an unlikely, but decade defining, combination of the fundamentally traditional with the wildly original.

The word “party” has literally replaced “reception” in wedding lingo. Right now, it’s all about combining personal touches and ethic flares. Grooms are taking part and couples, together, are determined to “throw the best party ever” that feels uniquely their own:

Fewer than half of weddings take place in a house of worship. One third of couples marry outdoors. 20% of couples have a friend or relative deputized to perform the ceremony. 13% of receptions feature music via i-Pod. Over 1/4 of couples plan their weddings around a theme (romance in Paris, Stars and Moons). 85% of couples are personalizing at least some aspect of the reception. 97% of grooms get involved with the planning. For those going with live bands, they’re thinking specialty bands i.e. salsa, R&B, Polka and brides are entering less to “Here comes the bride…” than to Coltrane, Coldplay and the Beatles. Soul-food and Mexican are the new go-to wedding cuisine.

At the same time, many couples are holding on to certain wedding traditions that have been in place for generations:

A full 76% will have a large wedding with all the traditions, half because “it’s a beautiful ritual they’ve always looked forward to.” 87% of women will wear a long white dress. 85% of couples will enter their reception (or party) to “For the first time, Mr. and Mrs….” 93% will indulge in a cake-cutting ceremony. 75% of brides will toss the bouquet and just under that amount will share a father/daughter dance.

The holidays can be a stressful time, and giving the current economic climate, the nation will likely be getting less sleep this season as they worry about finances, according to Sleepbetter.org. The company released a Holiday Slumber Index with some interesting findings:

Losing Sleep Over the Holidays?

44% of parents say they are worried about affording the holidays this year

35% of all Americans are worried about affording the holidays (16% much more/19% somewhat more)

Hispanics are more worried about affording the holidays this year – 46% (vs. 35% for the general population

Women (21%) are more likely than men (13%) to say they lose sleep in the run-up to Christmas.

The Night Before Gifting, All Were Not Sleeping…

66% of parents will get six or fewer hours of sleep the night before gift-giving

17% of parents get less than five hours of sleep the night before

And on the flip side – three in ten (30%) parents receive 7 to 8 hours of sleep, while few (4%) slumber for more than 8 hours the night before gift-giving

49% of the entire population gets less than 6 hours of sleep the night before gift-giving

Two in ten (19%) parents say that their children get 6 hours or less of sleep that night. 44% of parents say their children get 7 to 8 hours of sleep, and 34% get 9 or more hours the night before gifts.

This was a national telephone survey (1001 respondents) conducted by IPSOS and commissioned by Sleepbetter.org.

Economic abuse is often a “silent” aspect of domestic violence that many Americans are unaware of or are hesitant to discuss. It’s a tactic commonly used by domestic violence abusers to control their victims’ finances to prevent them from leaving a dangerous relationship.

70 percent of Americans know people who are or have been victims of domestic violence – – – but nearly the same percentage of Americans fail to see a connection between domestic violence and economic abuse.

Instead, when Americans hear the term “economic abuse,” 77 percent Americans think of Wall Street woes (e.g. corporate greed or irresponsible spending) and don’t associate it with something that could be happening in their own neighborhoods.

The Allstate Foundation provides the following signs to recognize economic abuse:– Taking money, credit card or property from a partner without their permission
– Racking up debt without a partner’s knowledge
– Purposely ruining a partner’s credit score
– Forbidding a partner from earning money or attending school
– Being forced by a partner to hand over paychecks
– Cancelling insurance or credit cards without the partner’s knowledge
– Harassing a partner at work to negatively impact a job

The Allstate Foundation, in partnership with NNEDV, recently developed a Financial Empowerment Curriculum to help victims achieve financial independence. The curriculum includes financial tools and information designed to enable survivors of domestic abuse to fully understand their financial circumstances, as well as engage in short-term and long-term planning (e.g., budgeting tools, step-by-step planners, tips, etc.) to accomplish their personal goals.

The user-friendly curriculum is available in a variety of formats, including hard copy, Spanish-language, DVD and downloadable versions at www.ClickToEmpower.org to help people of all incomes and earning power work toward long-term economic empowerment.